Author Archives: Chris Ware

Black Friday and Cyber Monday

 

Ok, so black Friday and cyber Monday came and went but where did they start and what are their impact on todays retail income?

Black Friday is a name that originated in the USA around 1961, in Philadelphia to be exact. It was used to describe the heavy traffic, both pedestrian and vehicular that occurred after the Thanksgiving holiday. Later on around 1975 it spread to the rest of the US and the world and its explanation changed. It was said that retailers operated in the red until that Friday when their accounting books went from loss to profit.

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#Hastags, a brief lesson

Hashtags initially gave us a way of grouping messages together and making searches easier, now they are a marketing tool that will not be ignored.

The pound sign (#)was first used by internet relay chat networks to label groups and topics or to mark messages as important to a particular group or individual.

It was in 2007 that a blogger called Stowe Boyd started the name trend with a short blog which included, “Hash Tags = Twitter Groupings”, that was when hashtags were born.

In 2009 Twitter started hyperlinking hashtags to twitter search results and in 2010 they placed hashtags of popular subjects on the front page of their website, that was when hash tagging became the powerful marketing tool it is today. Continue reading →

payment gateway

Payment Gateway

Increase your Christmas takings

How do I increase my Christmas takings I hear you say?
Cutting your costs is an obvious step that many of us never take.

How many times have you been approached by the leaflet people in town and been told you could save money on your utilities and simply waved them away saying you are too busy? Dozens I expect, but, what if they could actually give you significant savings and you missed out?

But that’s household stuff and we don’t want to talk about your utilities, you are business people so we want to talk about your business.

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All in the mind

Tech News: It’s all in the mind

Mind reading device, going cheap!.

Well not yet but our American cousins are working on a device that could be as cheap as $30 – $40.

The US Department of Defense is trying to push the development of a device that can detect and display brainwave patterns on smartphones and tablets. Continue reading →

When computers were born

Where did our tech come from?

We all use computers, everyday we take for granted the amazing capabilities of our desktops, laptops, tablets and smart phones but where did it all begin? Did you know, for example the first programmer was a woman? Or the first ever computer game was programmed in England?

Here is a very condensed history of the computer with some very interesting video footage thrown in. Continue reading →

Christmas Marketing Plan

Online stores ready for Christmas?

Christmas is possibly the most important time for small businesses, it’s when the majority of the year’s hard work is done and when a large chunk of the year’s income is earned.

Planning now can make the difference between plain sailing and stormy seas so let’s have a quick look at the important things to do.

The date to start with is the last order date. Continue reading →